Dealer charged dead battery says now good to go

[JacksMax]

Well the local dealer charged my first dead battery for half a day and says everything tested out Ok. After reading all the posts on dead batteries I don't feel real confident about that statement. I love the car but must admit waiting for another dead battery takes away some of the pleasure of driving this car. Recap, first dead battery happened four days after purchase with about 250 miles. Currently driving with about 467 miles. Interesting things I noted before the battery died. The SYNC/Radio screen was stuck on the date and time of when I first picked up the car. I tried and tried to change the setting but they would not change. I was going to go back to the dealer after a week or two to see if they could fix this issue. Also noticed that the AC would almost always be on when I went to start the car. I never used the AC since it was in the 50-60 degree range here. After the dealer charged the battery and reset some module both of these issues disappeared.

 

Ashley I wanted to send you a PM after my first post but looks like I need to have at least five posts. Will try to work on that.

 

 

 

[FordService]

Well the local dealer charged my first dead battery for half a day and says everything tested out Ok.  ...

Ashley I wanted to send you a PM after my first post but looks like I need to have at least five posts. Will try to work on that.

 

JacksMax,

 

I'll keep an eye out for your PM. Let me know if you need anything else; it sounds like your dealer got you all squared away. :)

 

Ashley

[jmckinley]

Sounds to me like your dealer is clueless.  Any battery run down to nothing is probably trashed and a simple recharge will not make it new again.

 

Clearly everything is not OK, or it wouldn't have run down.

 

Lots of us carry one of these for those nasty dead battery moments:

It's about the size of a paperback book and will provide the small boost to get your CMax going after the 12V battery craps out.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Simple-Start-Battery-Booster/dp/B005GO5E10

 

Stanley SSLION Simple Start Battery Booster

Edited March 12, 2014 by jmckinley

[Zathrus]

I had a totally dead battery last month. Dealer re-programmed Body Control Module (BCM) and replaced battery. They also did parasitic load test, but found nothing unusual. Your dealer should have done the same for you.

 

So, yesterday I decided to check State Of Charge (SOC) on my brand new (1 month old) 12V battery and it was only 65% (per reading from high end battery charger recommended by drdiesel in numerous threads). Voltage reading (at hood terminals) was 12.45V which is about 75% charged.  I'm wondering if these readings are low for a 1 month old battery??

 

The below thread/poll helped answer my question above....appears 12.45V is OK:

 

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/1566-what-is-your-12-volt-battery-voltage/

Edited March 13, 2014 by Zathrus

[ptjones]

Sounds to me like your dealer is clueless.  Any battery run down to nothing is probably trashed and a simple recharge will not make it new again.

 

Clearly everything is not OK, or it wouldn't have run down.

 

Lots of us carry one of these for those nasty dead battery moments:

It's about the size of a paperback book and will provide the small boost to get your CMax going after the 12V battery craps out.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Simple-Start-Battery-Booster/dp/B005GO5E10

 

Stanley SSLION Simple Start Battery Booster

Can you start your CMAX if the battery is dead?  Gee I wonder if anyone make a system that would text you if the battery was getting low? :)

 

Paul

[jmckinley]

Yes, if 12v battery is dead, the Stanley Simple Start will provide enough juice to wake up the computer and then the High Voltage battery actually does the starting.

 

Worked fine for me when my battery ran down every time I towed the car with the motor home.  I eventually installed a charge line from the motor home to keep the CMax battery charged while towing.

[JacksMax]

A follow-up to my original post. The dealer report says the following: Verified the concern: 12V battery is dead. Charge and test the battery: Pass.

Check Oasis for TSBS and SSMS: None found. Check for DC/DC converter operation. Unable to find root cause at this time.

 

The service manager feels the following might explain why the battery died. This car was built the last day of June 2013. It sat at a Ford dealer in Hickory, NC

till I decided to purchase it here at my local dealer in Charlotte. It was driven to my dealer and when I test drove it the odometer only read 98 miles.

I would guess the distance from one dealer to the other is around 85 miles. So this car sat for seven months at the original dealer and was only driven

about 10 - 13 miles during that time. I bet most cars do not get started often enough to keep their batteries charged. I have seen new cars on dealer lots jumped

quite a few times over my life. So he feels the battery was jumped to get it started and then driven to Charlotte. Most likely that was not enough charging time

to adequately charge the battery. The first three days I drove the car on a few short trips only. Hence the battery went dead. Believe me I hope that might be the cause of my early dead battery. Only time will tell.

Really like the car. Have around 538 miles on it now and my average mpg is 45.3.

[Maxy]

Dead battery in the morning. This is my 5th at 6000 miles. Car is a year old. Last dead battery was 10 month ago. Prior to that every 4 weeks. Done all the updates required to solve problem, except the recent 12 v replacement which is next on my list. I do have the Stanley Simple Start, but does not seem to work. How and where is the best way to plug it in? How do you open the trunk when car is dead?

Thanks for any new info!

[plus 3 golfer]

The 12 V positive and negative posts in the engine compartment have a direct connection to the 12 V battery.

 

The 12 V power outlet on the center console is not hot all the time and needs a relay to operate to energize this outlet. If the Body Control Module isn't operating, the relay coil won't have a path to ground and hence won't operate.  This same applies to the lift gate release relay.  AFAIK,  there is no way to open the lift gate if the 12 V system is "dead.".  So, one would have to get to the 12 V power outlet in the luggage area (which is hot all the time via fuse 27) via the passenger compartment if the lift gate is not operable. You'd also have to deal with the possibility that fuse 27 is blown (not likely, but possible). So, IMO buy a jumper cable that can clip onto the posts under the hood that has a cigarette socket adapter on the other end to plug the simple start into.

[ptjones]

Dead battery in the morning. This is my 5th at 6000 miles. Car is a year old. Last dead battery was 10 month ago. Prior to that every 4 weeks. Done all the updates required to solve problem, except the recent 12 v replacement which is next on my list. I do have the Stanley Simple Start, but does not seem to work. How and where is the best way to plug it in? How do you open the trunk when car is dead?

Thanks for any new info!

NO Under the hood on the right side there is a red plastic cover over battery positive connecting point. You will connect your jumper cable there find a good ground to connect the negative end too. This is in your manual on page 256. :)

 

Paul

[Maxy]

Thank you both for your reply, will do. I have read some postings on the 12 v battery recall. Sadly, sounds like even the battery replacement has not solved the problem....... What the heck is going on? How is that possible that after all this time FORD still cannot fix this problem? I should not worry about how to jump start my new car every couple of weeks or month. It is frustrating. I call Ford Customer Service every time it happens and they give me a new "case number", but no follow up or nothing. They act like this is the first time they hear about such a problem! Just by reading the posts it is obvious there is plenty of complaints, I am not the only one. Maybe they need some media attention.

[mxanotcar]

From ptjones: "NO Under the hood on the right side there is a red plastic cover over battery positive connecting point. You will connect your jumper cable there find a good ground to connect the negative end too. This is in your manual on page 256."

 

Yes, I looked at the manual but still could not find the negative post as shown in the picture in the manual.  I stopped looking at the manual picture, and looked at the possible locations where it could it be, and I found it.  Then compare that with the picture in the manual, and the picture was/is blurry and saturated on the print out, so no wonder trying to find what showed in the picture is difficult comparing with the actual.

 

From Maxy: "Thank you both for your reply, will do. I have read some postings on the 12 v battery recall. Sadly, sounds like even the battery replacement has not solved the problem....... What the heck is going on? How is that possible that after all this time FORD still cannot fix this problem? I should not worry about how to jump start my new car every couple of weeks or month. It is frustrating. I call Ford Customer Service every time it happens and they give me a new "case number", but no follow up or nothing. They act like this is the first time they hear about such a problem! Just by reading the posts it is obvious there is plenty of complaints, I am not the only one. Maybe they need some media attention."

 

It seems the 12V battery drain is still a problem after the 13B12 update.  I drove my car almost every day on long trip on highway, and that might help my car 12V from fully drained by whatever that Ford has not figured out yet.  I had my third 12V battery problem and had to jumpstart it after that update, more like hop starting it.  I drove and parked my car on Saturday, did not drove on Sunday, and on Monday snow covered about 5inches on top of the car.  I went out to clear the snow off the car, and be hold: car did not response when unlocking the door from the key, opened the driver door old fashioned way, climbed in the back seat and lower it to get the portable jumper, opened the hood (and be hold on another scene: the engine compartment looks very abnormal dirty from water and salt mixture kicked up at high speed from other vehicle while traveling on the road), connected the cable and jumpstarted (hop it), and the car was able to operate again without the middle clock stuck this time.

 

I am sure there is many upsetting Ford Cmax Hybrid owners out there.  Hopefully, Ford can fix the problem/s with this car.  Something Ford probably has been overlooked or dismissed and considerred the problems as vehicle normal operating?

[mxanotcar]

One more detail:  Both of the clock showed 01:20, and the actual time was around 10:30 right after jumpstart.  This probably give any readers of this thread some clues and the fact that the car 12V battery problem actually occurred night before or afternoon before.

[Maxy]

Got my new case number. Super nice customer rep. He said that the battery replacement should put an end to my dead battery problems. I know he only tries to be positive... Obviously mxanotcar as you have experienced, it is not the case :(( Crap! And you are right my clock was off as well. Are you following up with the Ford Customer Service? Now just waiting to the next no picture no sound start.

[Blackhawkgeo]

We are taking our SE to the dealer this morning for a dead battery. I'm going to mention this forum, and hopefully, he will do more than just throw a charge on the battery.

[Cmax lover]

I purchased my Cmax last August and love it.  However, this weekend my battery went dead.  I have 8,500 miles on it.  Dealer said they charged the battery and that Ford is aware of it and the rep is supposed to call me tomorrow.  I'm very disappointed because this car was perfect for me.  The dealer said it could happen again tomorrow or never!  I'm pursuing this problem until it gets resolved! 

[mxanotcar]

During the recent oil change,the dealership test load the 12V battery to see it was dead yet.  This second 12V battery did not dead (passed the load test).  When I got the car the back, the clock was off.  And since the clock has been off before during 12V outages and it would be back to normal after a couple of weeks by itself, I waited and yes, the clock came back to normal (can be adjusted and run normally).  Could have taken the car back to the dealership, but that is an another inconvience.

[salsaguy]

This is the critical element that leads/points to either the corroded water pump terminals or the water intrusion on connectors in another electrical part issue.

Water/moisture causes short or drain on battery and owners not driving enough to recharge drain to overcome the parasitic loss.

 

  I went out to clear the snow off the car, and be hold: car did not response when unlocking the door from the key, opened the driver door old fashioned way, climbed in the back seat and lower it to get the portable jumper, opened the hood (and be hold on another scene: the engine compartment looks very abnormal dirty from water and salt mixture kicked up at high speed from other vehicle while traveling on the road), connected the cable and jumpstarted (hop it), and the car was able to operate again without the middle clock stuck this time.

 

I am sure there is many upsetting Ford Cmax Hybrid owners out there.  Hopefully, Ford can fix the problem/s with this car.  Something Ford probably has been overlooked or dismissed and considerred the problems as vehicle normal operating?

[salsaguy]

If the battery was really the source/cause of the problem Ford would have already issued a recall on all batteries for all owners cars or at least the "bad lot #/ batch #" that was affected by whatever quality/process issues caused the problem/defect.

Since that has not been the case and since others here have had the dead battery issues even AFTER a re placed battery so that won't solve it. They are just trying to get you of the phone and check the box on the "canned speech/docs that all cust service folks go by"

 

Got my new case number. Super nice customer rep. He said that the battery replacement should put an end to my dead battery problems. I know he only tries to be positive... Obviously mxanotcar as you have experienced, it is not the case :(( Crap! And you are right my clock was off as well. Are you following up with the Ford Customer Service? Now just waiting to the next no picture no sound start.

[salsaguy]

Don't just mention this forum, print out posts with multiple user names shown with dates to take to the dealer with you as evidence and to get some power to twist their arm. Good luck.

 

We are taking our SE to the dealer this morning for a dead battery. I'm going to mention this forum, and hopefully, he will do more than just throw a charge on the battery.